I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 681 Burning Eastern Europe

Yanni's ribs were broken, his thigh was stabbed, and his whole body was as limp as a ball of cotton.

He struggled to raise his head and looked at a Cossack cavalryman more than twenty steps away. The other party was obviously unable to move and just kept cursing in Russian.

Yannick spat at him, and suddenly noticed that an artilleryman lying half on a dead horse in front of him seemed to move.

He hurriedly shouted over there: "Sergeant, how are you?"

The artilleryman slowly turned his head, and after a while he spoke with difficulty: "For the time being, he probably won't die."

Only then did Yannick see that half of his face was completely rotten, and a piece of flesh hanging on his nose was swinging back and forth as he couldn't breathe.

"We...seem to be holding on," he said.

The artilleryman said in a leaking voice: "Yes, the cannon is still there..."

Suddenly, his body trembled, and he raised his hand desperately to point to the bottom of the slope, as if he was seeing the entrance to hell: "That! There!"

Yannick looked along his arm, and his heart suddenly twitched. He saw that the two Russian cavalrymen who had fallen off their horses were still alive, and they were climbing onto their horses at the moment.

"Gun, gun!"

Yannick looked around hurriedly, and immediately saw a flintlock not far away.

Just as he was about to crawl over to pick it up, he heard the artilleryman say: "It's useless, you can kill one at most..."

Yannick was stunned. In his current state, it is more likely that he will miss none.

"What to do? What to do!"

His heart twitched again.

They desperately killed all the Russian cavalry. No one was left to fight, but they unexpectedly missed two enemies.

It only takes one Russian soldier to nail the cannon door shut.

"No, it can't be like this, it can't be!"

The artilleryman suddenly remembered something and motioned to the cannon behind Yannick:

“Look, the muzzle is facing them.

"I remember that it was filled with gunpowder just now. If you put a grapeshot in it and fire when those two bastards get close, you might kill them both."

"Yes, cannon, cannonballs..." Yannick lowered his head to search, and immediately saw the cannonball box five or six steps away.

He struggled to crawl over, opened it, and looked at the artilleryman: "Which one should I use?"

"Grey, wrapped in linen."

"Okay." Yannick had already heard the sound of horse hooves and hurriedly picked up the "linen bag". With this force, a heart-breaking pain immediately came from the broken ribs.

His eyes widened, and despite the pain that made him unable to breathe, he desperately took out the cannonball, took a few hard breaths, and dragged the cannonball under the muzzle.

The sound of horse hooves came closer, it must be climbing a hill.

Yannick shouted, knelt there, and grabbed the cannonball. As he moved, it seemed like a knife was inserted into his chest, stirring constantly.

"God, please give me strength!"

He put his neck against the base of his right arm and raised the cannonball above his head, getting closer and closer to the muzzle.

"Hurry!" the artilleryman shouted anxiously.

Yannick shouted again, put his left leg on the ground, and slowly stood up. Blood spurted out from the wound on his right leg.

The next moment, the cannonball finally slid into the muzzle.

He couldn't find the ramrod, so he pushed the shell down with his arm.

The artilleryman glanced at the Cossack cavalry, then looked at Yannik: "Insert the fuse! Just to the side of the muzzle!"

Yannick glanced at the gun port and replied: "The fuse has been inserted!"

"Then light the fire!"

Yannick looked up and saw the ignition rod inserted behind the cannon. He staggered towards it, but suddenly his feet stumbled and he fell to the ground.

Everything around him was spinning, and his last thought was that he must not faint...

"What are you doing?" The artilleryman used too much force, and blood gushed out from his cheek. "Light the fire! Quickly light the fire!"

However, there was no reaction from the infantrymen next to the cannon.

The two Cossacks had climbed to the top of the breakthrough, and when they saw the unattended cannon, they suddenly saw the helpless beauty lying in front of them.

The two of them were about to turn over and dismount, when suddenly, a little brown-haired head appeared on the other side of the slope.

A little boy climbed up with difficulty. When he saw the bloody corpses on the ground in front of him, he immediately froze there in fear.

If Yannick had not fainted, he would have definitely recognized him as Kachi, the brother of the girl who died in the Russian shell that day.

The artilleryman reacted instantly and shouted to the boy: "Little guy, pick up the smoking stick and light the rope on the cannon! Quick!"

The boy was startled for a moment and saw Yannick lying next to the cannon. He finally plucked up the courage to walk to the ignition pole and pulled it out.

The two Russian cavalrymen seemed to understand what he was going to do and hurriedly turned their horses' heads. However, a horse is much slower than a human when it wants to turn around.

Under the guidance of the artillery, Kach placed the burning oilcloth on the fuse.

The sparks disappeared into the cannon door with a "whoosh", and immediately, the cannon let out an earth-shattering roar.

"Bang--"

Kachi was shaken by the huge recoil and fell to the ground. The two Cossack cavalrymen who were only twenty or thirty steps away from the cannon disappeared instantly. Even the two horses had their upper bodies torn off by the cannonballs, and the remaining parts flew towards Below the slope.

"Hahaha……"

The artilleryman laughed twice and was about to praise the child when he suddenly choked on a mouthful of blood. He coughed violently and tilted his head and fell on the horse's corpse.

More than ten minutes later.

The artillery in Zagazyk village began to pour shells on the Russian line again.

The Russian army had just recovered some momentum due to the cessation of shelling, but was immediately beaten back.

On the Polish defense line, the positions of Drasovitz and Yannik and others had long been replaced by other soldiers, but like them, they still faced the Russian bullets fearlessly and gave the most fierce counterattack.

Finally, the Russian infantry, unable to withstand the huge casualties, began to retreat.

The attitude of the Poles on the opposite side who did not take death seriously at all left a huge shadow in the hearts of each of them.

The Polish soldiers began to climb over the breastwork and chased up with shouts.

The Russian army suddenly began to run away like a dog that had lost its home.

As Drasovitz said, the offensive momentum of the Russian army was greatly weakened the next day, and the Polish recruits grew up almost overnight and gave them a head-on blow with amazing morale.

However, this old soldier will never be able to see this scene.

He will never see his Marina and Fyodor again.

Perhaps one day, his children will tell their children how their grandfather used his life to block the iron hoof of the Russian cavalry for them.

Two days later.

Yannick retreated to the town of Maretse with the troops.

His regiment even held out for one day longer than originally planned. On the long Mozyr defense line, battles like the one in Zagazyk Village can be seen everywhere. The Russian-Polish Front, which originally planned to occupy Mozyr in five days, has just taken down the first line of defense here.